Indianapolis breaks annual criminal homicide record with 218 deaths

Indianapolis broke its yearly homicide record again, with 218 criminal homicides reported as of Monday afternoon.

In 2020, 214 criminal homicides were reported in total.

The Rev. Charles Harrison, a board member of the city’s Ten Point Coalition, said the numbers are frightening.

“I never thought 10 years ago that we would ever reach this level of violence in the city. It’s just unbelievable,” he said.

The majority of criminal homicides that have been reported so far this year are classified as unsolved, meaning no arrests have been made. Harrison said he finds that concerning, and thinks that witnesses might be scared to come forward.

“We still have a lot of killers out on the streets,” he said.

Harrison added that crime has spread throughout the entire city, and said he thinks resources and funding aren’t being put into the right places to lower the homicide rate.

A record $295 million was allocated for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department in the recently approved 2022 city budget. The funding includes money for new technology and more officers for community patrols.

Through the American Rescue Plan, the city has also been allocating grant funding to community-based organizations to reduce and prevent crime.

Contact WFYI criminal justice reporter Katrina Pross at kpross@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @katrina_pross.

Pross is a Corps Member of Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.